The "Christmas Conjunction"

 I took these photos in my front yard starting just after 5 p.m. CST today with Cathy's assistance. I used my Samsung S9 smart phone mounted on a tripod. Tonight is the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn; tomorrow and for a few days afterward they will be farther apart, but still seem quite close. Not long after I finish this post, they will disappear behind the horizon. 

But according to NASA, if we placed a dime on the goal line of a football field and pretended it was the sun, Jupiter would be at about the 10.5-yard line. Saturn would be almost twice as far out, at the 19-yard line. So they do not ever actually come close to one another. (Earth would be about two yards out from the dime-sized sun.) 

Here is looking from our front yard. The planets are the bright dot above our neighbor's house, between the power lines. 

Here is a telephoto view. I do have conventional digital and film cameras, but not with 8X telephoto like my phone has. This shot is about 4X.

Here is a series of 8x telephoto shots. Basically, if you've seen one you've seen them all. The phone does have a "night" photo setting, but after I used it, I could not tell any difference, probably because the phone was already stable on the tripod. But you can definitely tell there are two separate planets, and which one is Jupiter. 

 

One final frame and we bid the conjunction adieu.

I hope you got to see it, too!

BTW, the Bethlehem star that the magi, or wise men, followed to find the Christ child was also a conjunction of Jupiter, although not with Saturn, but with the star Regulus. Modern astronomers have calculated it quite precisely. Read about that in, "Why is Christmas on December 25?"

Merry Christmas to all, and God bless us, every one!